Japan - The Land of the Rising Sun

The Pursuit of Perfection

The Sharps have been anticipating our Japanese leg since the beginning - knowing our love of the food would lay the groundwork for an amazing immersion into the culture and traditions of this fascinating country. The constant pursuit of perfection is a cultural ethos that is apparent the moment you arrive. Everywhere we look we experience focus on nailing every last detail, continuously improving and committing to mastery. 

We have found ourselves saying, over and over, “everything is just better here”, and “weird but so good” as we narrate our adventures. The toilets alone likely merit their own blog post - you may contemplate as you sit on the heated seat and listen to the sound of a river that auto-plays for you (and in public restrooms also so as not to disturb others). As you visit every AirBnB or hotel and notice the cleanliness, thoughtful design and that everywhere provides top of the line shampoo, body wash, conditioner (yes says Erin who was having to cart her own around every other country!), toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry detergent, slippers and jinbei (traditional japanese pajamas) - all hosts having anticipated your every need. Somehow the Japanese have invented a one cup drip coffee filter that makes good coffee in any hotel room; how this has not made it to anywhere else is mystifying to us after 9 months of instant coffee packets being the norm in budget accommodations everywhere else. 

Day 1 in Japan

Ramen!

The famous bullet trains

Sashimi bowl at a market

Individual coffee filter

The rules are spelled out explicitly in Japan so everyone is clear what behaviour is expected. And when everyone adheres, what you get are some of the cleanest, safest places anywhere. You rarely see anyone out of step (unless they are unruly tourists - and we definitely tried hard to not be ‘that guy’). You do not eat or drink and walk in Japan (if you take things to go, you go somewhere and eat it rather than consuming it while travelling). There is no jaywalking. There is no smoking on the street. There is no loud talking or taking calls on public transit. There are almost no garbage cans anywhere and yet there is no (and we mean no) litter, as everyone packs their garbage home if they have any (greatly minimized by the no eating and walking rule). Because Japan has become a true hotspot for tourism, there are government ‘guides’ at many subway and train stations waiting to help those looking lost (most of us tourists) navigate the complicated yet logical (once you get it, you get it) transit systems. Unprompted, friendly locals would often stop and ask us if we needed help even when we weren’t lost. The trains run on time (exactly) and you better be lined up along the painted lines on the floor at the appropriate car so as to be exactly where you are supposed to be to minimize need to reposition once onboard, or else you stick out blatantly (more). 

In Japan, excellent service is expected everywhere. There is no tipping whatsoever - and if you leave extra even by accident, the staff will run after you to return your forgotten money. There is a true love of the culinary arts in this country - both of traditional cuisines and more modern interpretations - and the Sharps dove in with gusto - although realize that some Japanese ‘delicacies’ may be too advanced for us eg. still squirming abalone sea snails as big as a fist we were offered at our last sushi adventure in Tokyo (none of us were brave enough). We can now attest to what makes a ‘good’ ramen (and how ramen varies by city - often significantly). We are all adept at grilling Wagyu and Hida beef to perfection on Yakiniku table BBQ, and cooking beef and veggies ‘Shabu Shabu’ style (like Japanese fondue). We have learned to make - and eat - so much sushi - that is simple, elegant and so fresh. We have deepened our love for street food stalls and narrow alleys that lead the way to hidden culinary adventures. We have learned how to use ‘Tabelog’ - the Japanese food rating app: culinary reviews are taken so seriously within its algorithm (that prioritizes foodie reviews and gives less sway to what tourists think), that nothing under 3 even gets listed, where anything over 3.5 is considered exceptional. Only the top 0.07% of listings merit over a 4 rating. Our best advice is, whenever possible, sit at the bar or grill, where you get front row seats for the amazing cooking skills and lots of laughs and rapport with the chefs. 

Fukuoka

We flew from Bangkok to Fukuoka because the flight was cheap, not knowing much about this city of 1.7 million people in southern Japan. Our first day was a bit rocky as we tried to learn the ropes of travel in Japan (we were warned that it was an intense entry). Arriving on an overnight flight into pouring rain may not have helped. Took us a few tries to get cash out - and realized that more places than we thought would be ‘cash only’, meaning we travelled by subway out to a seaside park after storing our bags for the day, only to discover we couldn’t buy a ticket without cash. We then battled line ups (and confusion) in the rain before finding our first ‘hakata’ ramen (characteristic of the local Hakata area featuring thin straight noodles and a rich tonkotsu broth) to help dry us out. By day two (and after a good sleep) we felt more adept - finding our way to our first of several yatai (temporary food stalls with 6-12 small stools) that are iconic to Fukuoka, and enjoyed “Jamexican” tacos and skewers made to order by a very passionate chef. We visited the ‘TeamLabs Forest’ exhibit where we became fully immersed in art, virtual reality and make believe. We found our first sushi delivered by conveyor belt. We discovered 7-eleven Japan - a thoroughly different experience to the one back home that would be a constant for us for freshly blended smoothies, quick, yummy snacks, and wandering the aisles for new things to try. We even made it back to the seaside park for a bike ride on our final day. 

TeamLabs in Fukuoka

A small zoo at the seaside park

Yatai stall - streetfood stall

Hiroshima

We signed up for a walking tour in Hiroshima to ensure the history lesson we received was deep and local; our guide Hana delivered a supremely knowledgeable and yet personal perspective as her grandfather was a survivor of the atomic bombing. We visited Hiroshima Castle - a rebuild to honour the city’s more ancient history that was destroyed, the Atomic Bomb dome, and the peace flame (that will only be extinguished when the threat of nuclear war has been eliminated). We toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum that was incredibly well done given the very challenging subject matter. This part of our Japan adventure really brought our history lessons full circle, having toured Europe in the fall we learned of the beginning chapters of WW2. Hiroshima and its history closes one of the darkest chapters in human history with the beginning of the close of WW2. Within one month of the USA dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan surrendered and WW2 was officially brought to an end with VJ-day.

We stayed in a small rental house across the river from downtown - the house was hidden down an alley between apartment buildings! - so a bit tricky to find by otherwise lovely. We enjoyed okonomiyaki (a layered savory pancake cooked over a teppan grill that was invented when food was scarce after the war, where basically anything can be thrown in depending on what you like).

A-bomb dome

Rubbing a carp brings good luck

The view from the atomic bomb museum, can see the eternal flame and dome in the background

Osaka

The boys were thrilled to spend a bunch of their birthday money from their grandparents making their roller coaster dreams come true at Universal Studios Japan. The older Sharps were thrilled to have avoided amusement parks thus far on our travels, but found it just as much fun as the kids. The immersive worlds of Harry Potter, Super Nintendo and Jurassic Park had us feeling like we were in the movies and video games, while adrenaline pumped hard for all of us on the Holiday loop-de-loop coaster and especially the Flying Dinosaur - where you are strapped face down, head first - for a huge roller coaster ride. 

We stayed right by the park in a classic Japanese “sleepover” room (meaning 4 single beds lined up side by side with not much else), and collapsed into said beds at the end of each day thanks to all the walking, junk food and accelerated heart rates. 

Much anticipated visit to Universal Studios

Yoshi's racing outfit

Meeting Yoshi

The place is surreal, really put you in a Nintendo

King Bowser Koopa

Kyoto

From the modernity of Osaka, we felt ourselves slow down and unwind as we arrived into the Gion (old town) part of Kyoto where we rented a traditional Kyoto townhouse on a quiet street (visiting out of high season helped us find this gem). From here we were able to walk the lovely streets of this amazing town and explore its many alleys, parks, temples and shrines. We were able to catch the occasional glimpse of traditional Geishas on their way to work in the early evenings  

On day one we hiked past the hordes of tourists at the base of the Torii Gates all the way up through the roughly 3,000 gates through lovely forest and peaceful shrines. Erin explored the silent ‘moss’ temple solo another day while the boys immersed themselves in the Ninja and Samurai museum. We also did a walking tour in Kyoto that led us to many temples and shrines that have been beautifully preserved and pepper Kyoto’s forested hillsides. 

Kyoto is a foodie’s dream - we enjoyed teppanyaki, yakiniku, shabu shabu, sushi and ramen, in addition to the adults exploring the city’s fascinating craft cocktail scene in the tiny bars that inhabit tiny alleys and spaces both street side and up narrow staircases. 

In Kyoto we also celebrated the end of our homeschooling year with our official final meeting with the homeschooling facilitator - although not every day was easy, we are all proud of our ‘worldschooling’ adventure and all of the great, varied work the boys were able to accomplish over the past 10 months. 

River walk in Kyoto

Shabu shabu in Kyoto with wagyu beef

Moss garden

Torii Gates walk

Geisha

Jasper making an offering for prosperity

Samurai museum

Takayama

We took the slow (as opposed to bullet) train to the Japanese Alps for some much needed rest. We stayed in two spots here - a hotel in town and one night at a traditional Japanese Ryokan. We enjoyed daily baths in ‘onsen’ (mineral hot springs), hiked through the town’s old cobble stone streets and hilly parks, and enjoyed the stunning mountain views. The Ryokan was nestled in the mountains outside of town beside a beautifully clear river that lulled us to sleep on futon beds that were set up in our tatami matted cabin. 

Takayama

Ryokan

A CATpuccino in a cookie cup

Amazing meal at the ryokan

Tokyo

After the peacefulness of Takayama, the streets of Tokyo were a bit of a shock to the system. This immense city is amazing for its size, dense population and total sensory overload. You can get on the subway in ‘downtown’, ride for an hour in any direction and still seemingly pop out in downtown - the city sprawls forever. Nearly 10 million people ride the subway here daily making for a busy chaotic experience no matter what time of day you ride. We stayed in Shinjuku - a busy, neon-lit area with access via subway to every other part of the city. 

Ian has been our lead navigator for most of the trip - with the boys also taking turns and learning how to find their ways - and all this training was certainly needed to get around the complicated matrix of Tokyo public transit. Every stop seems to have dozens of exits along labyrinths of underground hallways, and a new train seems to show up (almost always full of people) every 1-2 minutes. You have to be on high alert to make sure you get on the right train. 

We joined in on the Japanese love for baseball - visiting the batting cages a few times to practice our own skills - and caught a game where the Tokyo Swallows took on the Hiroshima Carp. We learned the Japanese are serious enough about their baseball that they will even play through incredible amounts of rain - we were thankful for the ponchos that kept us semi dry along with all the other fans who seemed totally undeterred by the rain as well. No chance a Canadian game would have persevered through the downpour.

On Father’s Day Japan played Tunisia in World Cup soccer. We discovered to our dismay that all public viewing places like pubs had been booked out weeks in advance. Instead we made our way down to the famous Shibuya crossing after the game to join in as the fans celebrated between orderly street crossings coordinated by the many police on sight. We then went 450 meters up the tallest building in Japan, the Tokyo Skytree, to get a 360 degree view of the megacity. 

We took a sushi making class, visited the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, found the freshest sushi at the fish market, visited the Tokyo tower and found rainbow cotton candy for the win. We loved finding the little food and drink stalls in several different neighbourhoods - in a city so big it is so cool to find so many small and unique establishments flourishing. 

Our last 24 hours delivered two iconic Tokyo experiences - getting on a subway so packed you had to just lean into the people busting through the doors (this is expected and customary), only to then see ten more people behind you do the same. On our final morning we woke to feel our 11th floor apart-hotel swaying and shaking as a small earthquake hit (there are over 1200 quakes experienced by Tokyo each year - locals barely look up for anything under a 5 on the Richter scale). 

Enjoying a bento box on the train

Godzilla head

Batting cage

Erin's finished product at sushi class

Individual ramen booth

Fresh sushi at the fish market

Erin hitting a homerun

At the baseball game they have beer girls who pour a fresh one at your seat

A simplified subway map

A little rainy at the game

We visited a vintage videogame store

Rainbow cotton candy!

Sushi dinner to celebrate Erin's birthday!

Homeward Bound

We write this as we travel home to Canada - with plans to recover from jet lag on the west coast with Ian’s Dad and some west coast friends before returning to Calgary July 6th. Our plan is for one more blog post once we have a chance to make sense of re-entry over the summer. Right now, our feelings are of excitement for home, gratitude for this beautiful, safe and friendly world that has provided us with such adventures and joy. We are feeling proud of ourselves as a family for ‘making it’ and growing so close through the ups and downs of extended travel. Thanks to all for following along.  

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Finlay

Japan felt like one big blur because it was our last leg of our trip and I was just getting excited for being home. The food was amazing: Sushi, my favourite food in the whole world, was next level here. The ramen and yakiniku were delicious. In my opinion Japan had the best food on our whole trip. Japan was also my favourite country overall. Saving the best for last I guess.

Jasper

Japan felt like a wormhole, it took us through time and it went so fast I don’t remember very much but my favourite part was the ryokan and the rollercoasters a week of fun then 1 night of chill. The best food was probably in Japan, my favourite dinner was the street stall in Fukuoka and I got to like this dish called soba noodles they are cold noodles and a tempura sauce.